City of Highland receives $3M in federal funding for SR-210 at 5th Street interchange improvements

HIGHLAND, Calif. (KABC) -- The city of Highland was given $3 million in federal funding to make improvements to a major interchange that will hopefully reduce congestion and improve commute times.

The State Route 210 and 5th Street interchange provides access to the southern part of the city, the San Bernardino International Airport and the City of San Bernardino from SR-210. That means wider roads and traffic flow will play key roles in the city's widening project.

"This project will help enhance the businesses and the traffic flow that is coming in by widening the freeway on-ramps and off-ramps," said Highland Councilman John Timmer.

The $3 million allocation is part of a larger government-funding package in which the Inland Empire received more than $17 million for local projects this year.

"A project like this is just so significant for the city of Highland," said Rep. Pete Aguilar during a news conference on Wednesday. "We have San Bernardino International Airport here that's receiving cargo, we have communities, people trying to get home after a long day of work, oftentimes, commuting to farther places. Then you have the local economy here, people coming here to shop and to spend money ... all of those things. So the importance of a project like this is not unnoticed, and it's incredibly important."

Meanwhile, the city of San Bernardino will be receiving $676,000 from the Department of Transportation to help improve 11 bridges that were identified as needing repairs. That also includes modernizing how people move across the bridges.

"We really could use a sidewalk on some of these bridges because some of these are on major thoroughfares throughout the city," said San Bernardino Public Information Officer Jeff Kraus.